Jhonnatan

Attacking Midfielder (R) - Feniks
10 Jan 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Jhonnatan

23 Edition

The Feniks Herald

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Valerii Kucherov

96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feniks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Tempers go at Feniks

Oleksandr Chornomorets was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Feniks

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavlo Orikhovskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Feniks get the job done against Metalist

A 2‑1 win over Metalist, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Oleh Synytsia was the difference for Feniks

Marked 7.97. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Squad

5 new faces, and Feniks are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Vitaliy Matvienko, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

Rostyslav Rusyn gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Serhii Kyslenko gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serhii Kyslenko is on it.

In brief

  • The dugout The form table has caught Daniel Watts
  • Player ratings Nobody could get near Jhonnatan
  • Boardroom Feniks were not finished after all
Back issues
22 Edition

The Feniks Herald

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Valerii Kucherov

103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Feniks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Anton Zadereiko breaks a bone — 18 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Oleksandr Chornomorets falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Serhii Kyslenko’s goal not enough for Feniks

Serhii Kyslenko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Vorskla, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Tempers go at Feniks

Andrii Kukharuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Boardroom

212% of the income goes out in wages at Feniks

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Vitalii Zhupanskyi

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Vitaliy Matvienko: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

21 Edition

The Feniks Herald

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Valerii Kucherov out for 110 days

110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Feniks lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Anton Zadereiko out for 25 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Feniks will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A row about effort at Feniks

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Chornomorets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Probiy take the points off Feniks

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Boycho Velichkov

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vitaliy Matvienko to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Andrii Bohdanov dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

Squad

“I want to play”: Boycho Velichkov speaks

“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.

In brief

19 Edition

The Feniks Herald

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

5 matches without a win for Feniks

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Feniks are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jhonnatan

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Feniks

Oleksandr Chornomorets was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Orikhovskyi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Valerii Kucherov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.68

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.68, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Squad

Oleh Synytsia named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Oleh Synytsia is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Marko Podoliak

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Market

Ronnie Sandford told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ronnie Sandford has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Feniks.

The dugout

Serhii Kyslenko gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Serhii Kyslenko is on it.

In brief

19 Edition

The Oleksandriya Sentinel

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Artem Shulianskyi was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words exchanged at Oleksandriya

Artem Kozak and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Oleksandriya

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Henrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

The goals have deserted Oleksandriya

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Oleksandriya can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Andrii Storchous stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrii Storchous and Oleksandriya agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Artur Andreychyk makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Mykhailo Babenko on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

Point won or two lost for Oleksandriya?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rukh? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

Looking ahead

Roman Tolochko goes back to face LNZ

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Roman Tolochko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oleksandriya needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

17 Edition

The Oleksandriya Sentinel

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Andrii Klishchuk stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Oleksandriya

Fernando Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Artem Shulianskyi

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Metalist take the points off Oleksandriya

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Artur Andreychyk signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artur Andreychyk commits to Oleksandriya for another 4 years.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mykhailo Babenko to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Bohdan Stepanov gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

The form table has caught Danylo Karavayev

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

The dugout

When it matters, Jota Pereira plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

14 Edition

The Feniks Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Serhii Kyslenko takes the afternoon — 8.68

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Serhii Kyslenko provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan, 21, steals the show — 8.12

Marked 8.12 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Boardroom

The Feniks board want somebody sold

The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.

Squad

A move Liam Hall would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Liam Hall is living that version at Feniks, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Pavlo Orikhovskyi falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Serhii Kyslenko the difference as Feniks beat Prykarpattia

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Serhii Kyslenko. 2‑1 against Prykarpattia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Boardroom

234% of the income goes out in wages at Feniks

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Market

Feniks buy the years ahead of Petr Masopust

He is 15, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

Feniks are still strangers to each other

6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

In brief

13 Edition

The Feniks Herald

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Jhonnatan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76

A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The terraces

One of their own: Jhonnatan

He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Yehor Demchenko

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Match

Honours even between Feniks and Podillia

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Vitaliy Matvienko on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

Andrii Bohdanov dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Vladyslav Sydorenko

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Prykarpattia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

Saikou Chorr knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Feniks, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

11 Edition

The Feniks Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Feniks

Oleksandr Chornomorets was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Feniks

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pavlo Orikhovskyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Feniks keep their word to Diego Arroyo

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

Player ratings

Vladyslav Sydorenko stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.18 on the card, and the Feniks support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Vitaliy Matvienko on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

Feniks and Ahrobiznes cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Ahrobiznes came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Looking ahead

Serhii Kyslenko goes back to face Inhulets

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Serhii Kyslenko’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Feniks needing him to play as if none of it matters.

Market

The shop window has Saikou Chorr in it

Feniks have let the market know Saikou Chorr can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

10 Edition

The Feniks Herald

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Jhonnatan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77

A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Tempers go at Feniks

Andrii Kukharuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Boardroom

341% of the income goes out in wages at Feniks

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

Match

Feniks see off Metalurh Zaporizhzhia

Three points for Feniks, 1‑0 the final word against Metalurh Zaporizhzhia in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Oleh Synytsia

Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Chris Popov

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Feniks are still strangers to each other

9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Squad

Andrii Kusyi named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Andrii Kusyi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

9 Edition

The Feniks Herald

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Anton Zadereiko says Feniks went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Feniks

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

A falling-out at Feniks

Oleksandr Chornomorets and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

A bad afternoon for Feniks against UCSA

0‑2 to UCSA, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

No hiding place for Daniel Watts

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Watts, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Vitaliy Matvienko to a room that had heard them before.

Market

Feniks sign Saikou Chorr, one for the future

Saikou Chorr is 19, and Feniks have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Squad

Daniel Watts has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Feniks will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

In brief

8 Edition

The Feniks Herald

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Feniks turn down LNZ for Yehor Hunichev

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Zorya tell Feniks: Illia Karavashchenko is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Oleksandr Chornomorets in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Feniks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pavlo Orikhovskyi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

No hiding place for Andrii Kukharuk

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrii Kukharuk, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Valerii Kucherov is still paying for one afternoon at Feniks

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Vitaliy Matvienko was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Feniks dressing room was either.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Andrii Bohdanov

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

7 Edition

The Feniks Herald

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Jhonnatan runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Feniks say no — this time

The offer from Bukovyna for Rostyslav Rusyn was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 16 in, 1 out at Feniks

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Feniks rebuffed over Cody David

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. LNZ have kept their man, and Feniks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

One of our own: Denys Harmash joins the Feniks first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Denys Harmash is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Vitaliy Matvienko chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Market

Still no ink between Feniks and Chris Popov

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Feniks, another week without a signature from Chris Popov.

The dugout

The form table has caught Andrii Kukharuk

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

6 Edition

The Feniks Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

Roman Rostokin turns down Feniks

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Feniks rebuffed over Yaroslav Kvasov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Podillia have kept their man, and Feniks go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Feniks get the job done against Probiy

A 1‑0 win over Probiy, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Words at Feniks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Chornomorets is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Jhonnatan was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings

Pavlo Orikhovskyi takes the honours

Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Feniks had the best player on the pitch.

Squad

9 new faces, and Feniks are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Squad

Diego Arroyo named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Diego Arroyo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

Vitaliy Matvienko has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vitaliy Matvienko on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

4 Edition

The Feniks Herald

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Sviatoslav-Mykhailo Oryshchak asks to leave Feniks

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Vorskla come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Feniks did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Veres tell Feniks: Viacheslav Surkis is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words exchanged at Feniks

Yehor Demchenko and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

A row about effort at Feniks

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Chornomorets was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Feniks try to borrow Jhonnatan

Oleksandriya have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Vitaliy Matvienko: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Andrii Kukharuk

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

Player ratings

Artur Remeniak was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

In brief